These are the things I've been watching:
Community Season 2 Episode 15
So yeah generally I enjoy this show quite a bit, good character-based humor, good amount of continuity jokes, most of the plotlines are good. Mainly I like the ones that either have the whole group doing something or focus on just two groups of characters; they can usually do a good A and B plot but once they feel like they need to do a C or even D it gets a bit weak. I also don't like the parody episodes as much. So this episode scores pretty well by these standards, even if it does have maybe two too many things going on, and it's pretty funny. There's one thing that's like, really really bugging me, though, and it's confusing me so much that the whole reason I went out of my way to mention this episode is so I can remember to go back and look around for other people who might have some explanation – I don't want to do so now, I might get “spoilers” for future episodes (yeah, I don't know how that would work for a sitcom either, but I'm not gonna find out) – for what seems to me a very strange and insensitive choice. Okay so in this episode the like, D plot I'd say is that Pierce is becoming addicted to his painkillers. They make him hallucinate, making him see a little man who tries to convince him to continue taking the drugs. A weird plot, sure, but guess who they got to play the little man? Actually you probably won't guess unless you have a decent knowledge of sitcoms and actors etc and even if you did you probably wouldn't guess because this, to me, seems like the least appropriate and most insensitive casting call I can ever think of, something that just seems so wrong that I really cannot imagine what lead to someone making that call. The guy's played by Andy Dick. Yup. A character whose role is to try to encourage damaging drug use is played by Andy Dick. Does that seem like, uh, I dunno, extremely insensitive to the family of the late great Phil Hartman? I mean geez I dunno I understand there's all sorts of controversy over that still and I'm not saying I know for sure what exactly happened and who all is at fault or how at fault they should be, I don't think anyone does, but I mean, just the idea alone ought to be enough for this to seem like a bad idea, shouldn't it? Or maybe that's just me. I dunno I guess really he's still only really doing drug jokes/roles whatever and he's probably done dozens of roles like this even more “explicitly”, but I just figured Community was better than that?? Because it is really quite good.
Nichijou Episode 10
Great. GREAT. Some real top tier scenes in this one. This is also the first episode I'd seen since there were all those threads on /a/ about Yuko, the, uh, ones where they analyze just how terrible her life actually seems to be, and watching it with that context, uh, yeah, definitely seems like feasible. Especially the invincible alien, fishing and frilled lizard scenes, geeez, bruuuutal. But yeah great episode, could use more Mio and Mai scenes but Mai's like two scenes were fantastic. The nagashi somen scene might edge out the elevator scene as my favorite. Only downside: no helvetica standard this episode.
Sora no Woto episode 7.5 and 13
So yeah I think I've already explained how much I like this show/what I like about it as best as I can in some post awhile back. Anyways I checked out these bonus episodes and they were both pretty good. 7.5 was kinda ridiculous, maybe they went a little too far in the silly direction with that one but it really wasn't that much crazier than the phone/toilet bottle episode and that was one of my favorites. Pretty impressed with how they managed to fit in some legit character development/foreshadowing. Kinda funny that they did a parody of war shows in a war show. 13 was straight up classic SnW action, though. Maybe a bit cheesy? Or maybe I'm just heartless. Really like how they advanced the plot/scope and such, SEASON TWO PERHAPS. If not that was an okay resolution, I am okay with it.
A-channel episode 9
Alright so I think this is the third time I've written about A-channel on this blog. Maybe the fourth. I have said more and more outlandish things about it, starting with claims that it was just a sorta mediocre show that I probably would still watch because it was fun and eventually claiming it would end me and everything I held dear. Every week I wonder how they'll manage to top themselves, or sink even lower, and every week they manage to. It ends here, though. Not me watching the show. Oh no. But I honestly cannot imagine where they will go from here. I don't know if they're losing viewers and getting desperate or what but it's just getting to be like stunning levels of blatancy and laziness. Awhile ago I started trying to figure out if the video game industry or anime industry was, on average, more pandering to its fans. I still think it's an interesting argument with no clear answer, but this scores some pretty heavy points towards anime.
I could try to explain just what developments made me consider their most pandering episode yet, a pretty tremendous claim, but really, what could I possibly say? What could do it justice? What we see here is 22 minutes of unrefined moe. Before I felt like they had nefarious purposes or at least just wanted a whole lot of money but now I realize this is something far more simple. This isn't the work of humans at all. This is some sort of natural process. Like, a tornado touches down, or a volcano erupts. Destruction, everywhere. Total devastation. Ruin. But is there any blame? “A lightning bolt doesn't know its own strength” - Andrew Broder
Community Season 2 Episode 16
Oh man, funny stuff. Any scene with Troy's stunned expression just had me cracking up hard. A lot of Pierce-centered episodes lately, this was probably one of the best ones. Great character development all around, funny documentary metaness, all pretty good times. I guess the one plot I sort of disliked was... Annie's I guess? I dunno the rest of them sort of escalated into new jokes but her's was like, get the thing, what does it mean, what does it mean, oh maybe that's what it means. Just a bit weak I think.
Community Season 2 Episode 17
Really funny idea for a plot, classic stuff. Lots of pretty funny scenes. Not sure if the “moral plot” made a lot of sense, though, I think they're too eager to. Abed's romance plot was pretty cute but I'm not sure if I like that direction with his character. I think Leonard and Magnitude, despite being pretty gimmicky/one-note characters, even though they're like, parodies of gimmicky/one-note characters, are pretty funny and I like them getting parts like this. Troy and Abed doing the election coverage was one of their most joke-packed sections, that was good.
Microsoft's E3 Conference
Ehhhhhh... Halo remake will probably be fun, Gears of War 3 might be fun and Halo 4 will be what it is (major ugh with flat-out saying there will be 3 more), and that's essentially all the first-person shooters I can tolerate. The rest of them I just have no interest in. Same with a few of the other probably really impressive games, specifically Forza 4. Aside from that it was so much Kinect stuff that I just flat out do not want to do, although I must admit the object-scanning and 3d-drawing (why did they advertise this as finger tracking and not THREE DIMENSIONAL PAINT?) seem like they have some pretty cool potential. Basically a disappointment, although I'm not all too sure exactly I was expecting. Oh yeah Crytek's Rome game might be good.
EA's E3 Conference
Hmm.... Lots of shooting, lots of sports, not really much for me. Overstrike might be fun. Battlefield 3 looks really good but I don't know if I actually want to play it - or if I actually can, it looks like it would give my video card a serious workout at the least. Kingdoms of Amalur is uh I dunno I'm not all too sure what it is. Pretty solid conference though I guess.
Ubisoft's E3 Conference
Some pretty crazy stuff here and then still a whole bunch of stuff I couldn't care less about. Tintin might be really good or not at all. Rayman Origins will be good. Rocksmith is a pretty interesting idea that could be a lot of fun if well done. Trackmania 2 will be fun. And that's it! Aside from that it was all shootan or dancan or something close enough to them. Also geez by far most awkward stage presence. I wonder if Ubisoft deliberately trainwrecks themselves a bit to be more memorable.
Sony's E3 Conference
Woah, pretty packed here. God of War and the Ico/SotC collections will be good, obviously. Resistance 3 is the sort of FPS I think I still enjoy. Uncharted games look sorta fun but not usually the sort of thing I like, seem very well done though and it was exciting to see them. Starhawk seems crazy impressive if it is actually seamless ground to space battles the way I interpreted it to be. Dust 514 has an absolutely mind-blowing concept that would be the coolest thing ever if it works the way I think it will, that is, Eve players start having a battle on a planet, that battle is determined by the players playing Dust. New Sly Cooper game neat! Twisted Metal will prolly be fun, might be the sort of thing I'd play at someone else's house. Bioshock Infinite might be a lot of fun but again I don't think I actually want to spend the time playing it. The Vita! Holy wow the demos impressed me but I'm not sure if there's any games I actually want to play on it. Oh wait Street Fighter X Tekken but that'll be on other stuff I imagine. And that price holy cow that is way cheaper than I expected. Speaking of which that 3D TV bundle with the simultaneous splitscreen is probably the coolest thing I have ever heard of. I feel like there's a few other good games that I've forgotten. Nothing amazing but just a lot of really solid looking games that although I probably won't even play I was just happy to see being made and such. Also great stage presence! Well aside from a few spots that were a bit lame. Everyone there had a good level of energy plus endearing nervousness. They also handled their ongoing hacking debacle quite gracefully. At this writing I haven't seen Nintendo's yet so so far Sony is winning hands down. Bravo! Etc. But where was the Squeenix stuff? Oh well, I'll see that stuff at some point. Haven't really had a chance to look at much of the extended demo stuff yet.
Nintendo's E3 Conference
Wow. Yes. Straight fire. Zelda stuff okay, live show would be amazing to see but yeah I'll have to be pretty lucky. Four Swords and Link's Awakening yes please. Then uh... 3DS GAMES, OH WOW. Star Fox 64 3D looks GREAT. Kid Icarus looks like it'll be PRETTY FUN if it isn't fundamentally BROKEN. Multiplayer looks like GUNZ which might be fun. Mario Kart!!!! Except it seems like it'll be the Mario Kart Wii style of miniturbos so uh probably won't be sticking with this one for a whole lot of time but nevertheless woah HANG GLIDING and SUBMARINES and SUCH look SO COOL. Luigi's Mansion 2! I am so excited!!! And Super Mario 3DS!!!! I HARD CALLED the gameplay, maybe I didn't like uh explain it well to people I tried to explain it to but yeah it's like old 2d Mario in 3d!!!! I pictured it like this it is like seeing my dreams right up there on the screen NO WAIT I reserve that call for the Wiiu which is THE FUTURE but SOONER. I mean just LOOK AT THAT, seriously LOOK AT THAT. The games. The technical power. The controller. This is just way too much. Money that is. Or maybe. What I figure is that Nintendo is rolling the dough so much now that they might choose to sell this one at a loss knowing that people will just be scooping up so many awesome games. Like a new Smash Bros. Not that I'm excited for that really I mean, Sakurai's still there, and he's pretty much ripped out my heart with his comments about Melee. Oh well. MORE THAN OH WELL. This is probably the COOLEST THING EVER. Nintendo crushes everyone yet again. And that was just the press conference they showed a million other things in other places apparently.
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